By Robert Lopez, rolopez@ad.gannett.com

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jeremy Essig used to disdain stand-up comics. But four days before he was to begin graduate school at Miami University, he dropped out, to become one.

“I just tried it (stand-up comedy) on a whim and liked it a lot better than school,” he says. “I was talking with my mom the other day, and she's gone from assuming that I'll go back to grad school to assuming that I was ruining my life to now she's kind of supportive.”

For the past two years Mr. Essig, 24, has preached what he calls “Relaxed Anger” to audiences all over the Midwest. Sporting a shaved head, glasses, green cowboy shirt, torn jeans and painted black nails, the Cincinnati funnyman ascends the stage and wonders why people always mistake him for a bookstore worker.

“I can't go into a bookstore without someone asking me for help,” he says. “Last time I lost it on a lady and said, "Why do you think I work here?' . . . That only happens in book and record stores. You would never go into a grocery store and ask the fattest person, "Where's the mayonnaise?' ”

Originally from Cleveland, Mr. Essig graduated from Wake Forest University in 2000 with a degree in psychology. Other than graduate school, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, and had little experience with comedy.

“I used to hate stand-up,” he says. “I remember my family would watch it all the time in the '80s, when there was a big comedy boom and it was on all the time. I would hate it because I thought the comedians were so bad.

“But then in college, I started seeing some of the newer comedians on Comedy Central, not the '80s "aren't-I-wacky-with-this-funny-shirt' type of stuff. That's when I got interested.”

But he barely remembers his first night on stage.

“I was so drunk, and I ended up doing 20 minutes, with only five minutes worth of material,” Mr. Essig says. “I had people telling me that I said stuff that to this day I can't remember.”

When not on tour, he performs monthly shows at the Go Bananas Comedy Club in Montgomery. His next engagement there will be Aug. 15-18.

Mr. Essig has been inspired more by musicians than by fellow comedians, and he cites Paul Westerberg of the Replacements as his chief influence. The comedian's act is laden with musical references, and his views on the current state of Christian music elicit some of the loudest laughs.

“I was driving through Texas and heard this song on the radio that was like rock, rock rock,” he says, banging his head. “Rock to build your church on. I was like, what. Christian musicians are getting sneaky like ninjas. I think you should have a disclaimer. If you're to the point where you're using punk as Christian music, what's left? Gangsta' rap?”

Eventually, Mr. Essig says, he'd like to work as a television writer. But stardom isn't his primary goal.

“A lot of people get into stand-up because they want to be a star,” he says. “I got into stand-up because I just really like talking. And it's such a rush when you get on stage and the audience laughs at everything you say. That's all I ever really wanted.”